The Algorithm Age

Of the five charges Sean 'Diddy' Combs faced trial over, he was only found guilty of two — and they were the least serious ones. A relieved Combs celebrated in court and told his family he would be home soon, but the matter is not over yet. And the verdict is not the end of the road for alleged victims, with dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse which are yet to be dealt with. Here's what happens next. What was Diddy found guilty of? Two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution These were the least serious charges against Combs. What was Diddy found not guilty of? One count of racketeering conspiracy Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion One of the trafficking charges was related to Combs's ex girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura. The other trafficking charge related to another ex-gir...

Former Irish Olympic swimming coach George Gibney, who was arrested in the US on Tuesday, will appear before a US court on July 11 to either fight or accede to extradition to Ireland. Mr Gibney, who is now in his 70s, is facing a total of 79 charges relating to historical sex abuse allegations. Of these, 78 are for indecent assault while one is for attempted rape, court documents filed at the District Court of Orlando, Florida, have shown. These charges relate to allegations made by four girls. They were all aged between eight and 15 at the time and were being coached by Gibney at the time of the alleged abuse. Gibney remains in custody in the US. Speaking yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin praised the cooperation of members of the gardaí with the US justice system. The allegations regarding Gibney were highlighted in a BBC podcast which was released over five years ago. The Garda National Protective Services Bureau has been wo...

A Chinese national has been found guilty in the ACT Supreme Court of his part in a brutal attack during a violent home invasion where the victims said their attackers suggested they were from Chinese special forces. Xiantao Shang, 38, has been found guilty of aggravated burglary and assault by joint commission after he went to the apartment with a second man in June 2023, looking for a woman known as 'Linda'. Shang said she owed him over $100,000, with more owed to the other man, 46-year-old Wengao Zheng. The debt appeared to be gambling related. 'Linda' had not been answering their calls and had left town for a while. Before the home invasion the pair discovered she had returned to Canberra. Justice Verity McWilliam said in her judgement 'Linda' had once been the lover of Zheng, who did some "detective work of his own" tracking her to the apartment through a site advertising sexual services. Zheng pleaded guil...

Bryan Kohberger has pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students , more than two years after the grisly quadruple stabbing that shocked the nation. The decision to enter a plea this week allows Kohberger to avoid the death penalty. During a court hearing, lead prosecutor Bill Thompson laid out key evidence that painted a dramatic picture of the investigation. Among the details revealed was the discovery of a DNA-laden Q-tip retrieved from the garbage, a getaway car described as "essentially disassembled inside" to strip it of evidence, and a fateful early-morning DoorDash order that may have inadvertently placed one of the victims in Kohberger's path. These insights offered a clearer understanding of how the crime unfolded on 13 November 2022, and the meticulous efforts by investigators to solve the case. Their methods included extensive use of surveillance footage, cell phone tracking data, and DNA matching. Despite the guilty plea, the...

No prison term will be long enough for a meth-addicted car thief who ran over and killed a young policeman while trying to escape arrest, the officer's grieving widow says. Reagan Ainslie Chown, 25, was convicted of manslaughter over the late-night chain of events in June 2023 that led to Constable Anthony Woods' death. He was sentenced in the Western Australian Supreme Court on Thursday to a head sentence of 15 years and six months and a minimum term of 13 years and six months. Const Woods' widow Emily said Chown's prison sentence would "never be enough because Anthony has lost his whole life". "He had so much ahead of him," she said outside court while fighting back tears. She thanked the dozens of police officers who turned out for the sentence, including WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch. "It's been a really big journey, but today was an important day in helping us moving forward," she said. Const Woods' m...

After two agonising years of court hearings, headlines and documentaries, Bryan Kohberger has admitted to the “wilful, unlawful, deliberate” murder of four US college students inside their Idaho home . Sitting expressionless in an Idaho courtroom, he admitted to circling the neighbourhood in the early hours of the morning on November 13, 2022. He admitted to entering the off-campus residence at 1122 King Road, Moscow, at 4.05am. He admitted to killing Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21 years old, in a third-floor bedroom. He admitted to then going downstairs and stabbing Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20 years old. He admitted to leaving through the sliding kitchen door and driving away at speed through the back roads of Moscow, leaving two surviving roommates terrified and hiding in the home. He admitted to going back to his apartment and taking a selfie of himself giving a thumbs up. He will never have to explain any ...

Disgraced MMA fighter Conor McGregor could face up to ten years in prison after allegations of perjury were referred by a court to the Director of Public Prosecutions. At the Court of Appeal yesterday, Judge Isobel Kennedy said she would pass on material to the DPP concerning McGregor’s dropped allegation that Nikita Hand was assaulted by her own partner. Ms Hand, a 36-year-old mother-of-one, was awarded just under €250,000 in damages by a High Court jury last year after claiming she had been violently raped by McGregor in a Dublin hotel, fearing she would never see her children again . Earlier this year, McGregor had said he would call fresh evidence from two of Ms Hand’s former neighbours in Drimnagh, Samantha O’Reilly and Steven Cummins, in support of his appeal against the verdict. The pair had signed sworn statements saying Ms O’Reilly had seen her being physically attacked by her partner at the time, Stephen Redmond, on December 9, 2...

A father who carried out the "honour" stabbing of his daughter for dating a man of a different faith has had his prison sentence reduced by almost four years, after a court noted the victim had since offered her forgiveness. The woman's mother and brother will also spend less time behind bars, with the Court of Appeal also granting their appeals against sentence. The trio, and other family members, were charged after a 21-year-old woman was held down and stabbed outside the Sefton Plaza Shopping Centre, in Adelaide's north, in November 2021. She was repeatedly stabbed in the abdomen with a large kitchen knife before being driven to the family home and put into the shower. The woman suffered significant internal injuries in the incident. The court had previously heard her traditional Pashtun Muslim family disapproved of her relationship with a Christian man and worked together to track her down in the lead-up to the stabbing. ...

The full identity of an alleged child rapist, linked to a Victorian childcare worker charged with child sexual abuse, has been revealed. Michael Simon Wilson, 36, was charged with child rape and bestiality offences in April, with a first image released of the man on Thursday. The publication of Mr Wilson’s charges followed confirmation of charges against childcare worker Joshua Brown on Tuesday. Victorian Police charged Mr Brown with 70 offences after he allegedly abused eight children at a Point Cook childcare centre in Melbourne. It is alleged some children were as young as five months. A widespread investigation has now been launched, with Victoria’s chief health officer saying 1200 children have been recommended to undergo infectious diseases testing as a precaution. He is also accused of using his bodily fluids to tamper with food, news.com.au reported. Mr Wilson and Mr Brown are reportedly known to each other, though the nature of the relationship is un...

A childcare provider has given new information to police about the work history of an alleged child sex offender, after parents warned he worked more shifts at some centres than initially reported. Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex offences which may distress some audience members. On Tuesday, police announced 26-year-old childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown had been charged with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims at a centre in Point Cook in the city's south-west. Among the allegations, Mr Brown is accused of contaminating food with bodily fluids, prompting the government to urge infectious diseases testing for about 1,200 children. The move has been described by health authorities as "highly precautionary". Authorities have listed 20 centres where Mr Brown had worked and his "known employment dates". But some parents quickly became concerned Mr Brown had been at some ce...

The family of murdered Idaho college student Kaylee Goncalves has released a statement slamming the judge and prosecutors after killer Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty on Wednesday. Kohberger, 30, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen in their off-campus home on November 13, 2022. Kohberger entered the plea just weeks before his trial was set to begin. Latah County prosecutors offered Kohberger a plea deal earlier this week, agreeing to take the death penalty off the table if he admitted his guilt. Now, the Goncalves family says they aren’t happy with how Wednesday’s hearing went down, according to a statement released to NewsNation . The family’s statement criticized how Judge Steven Hippler started the hearing. “The plea started off with a Judge who was angry about people reaching out to him and then went further to stand on his soapbox stating nothing affects his dec...

After 13 hours of deliberations over three days, the jury empanelled for the federal sex trafficking trial of rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has returned a split verdict. The eight men and four women who made up the jury has found Diddy guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which carries a maximum ten-year prison sentence. He was found not guilty for the more serious charges including two counts of sex trafficking and racketeering which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years and life in prison, respectively. Once the jury were dismissed, the 55-year-old rapper was seen kneeling next to his chair and appeared to pray. “I’m gonna be home soon,” Diddy said to the courtroom gallery. “I love you. Thank you, I love you.” A few hours after the verdict was returned, Judge Arun Subramanian ordered Diddy to remain in custody until his sentence hearing slated for October 3. “It is impossible for the defendant to demonstrate by clear and convincing...

A chilling hush fell over the Idaho courtroom as Bryan Kohberger stood, impassive, and admitted to carrying out the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. I was just feet away from the former criminology PhD student, whose crimes have haunted the state for more than two years, and now he was about to speak for the first time. The 30-year-old showed no emotion as he responded to the judge’s questions — no apology, no visible regret, just an eerily measured tone as he sealed his own fate. It was the first time Kohberger has publicly admitted to the killings that shattered the college town of Moscow in November 2022. The plea deal hearing on Wednesday wasn’t the dramatic courtroom showdown many expected. Instead, it was devastating in a different way — quieter and heavy. As I sat in the gallery, the silence was broken only by muffled sobs by some of the victims’ family members, who looked down or away as the names of their slain loved ones wer...

Sean “Diddy” Combs entered the courtroom in a canary yellow sweater with his head down. He smiled at his family. Just moments earlier, he and his attorneys had all gathered behind closed doors. The mood was tense as it was clear the mogul’s fate would soon be clear. At 10.12 a.m. on Wednesday, Judge Arun Subramanian announced he had received a note from the jury: “We’ve reached a verdict on all counts. ” The courtroom pews were fully packed. Subramanian calmly told the energized room to “maintain order.” The jury entered three minutes later to announce the verdict everyone in the courthouse, and many others far beyond, had been waiting to hear. Outside of the courthouse, a lone reporter yelled out, “Verdict!” Suddenly, a rush of people entered the barricades where journalists were set up broadcast cameras. Combs’ fans, the devoted trial live-streamers, reporters, and tourists who were passing by, then smushed into the area, holding their collective breath while wa...

A line has been seen forming outside the Latrobe Valley law courts from the crack of dawn. People from as far away as Melbourne have been travelling to Morwell for each day of the trial of Erin Patterson. Ms Patterson is charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in relation to a beef Wellington meal which contained death cap mushrooms. She has always maintained her innocence and her defence team says the inclusion of the mushrooms was a tragic accident. The case has drawn international interest, with journalists travelling from across the globe to be in the court room. On the ground, people with no association to the case have tried not to miss a moment in the trial. School groups, aspiring authors and internationally renowned authors such as Helen Garner have even attended. Braving the cold Michelle Wilson who lives 10 minutes from the courtroom, said she rang ahead to find out how she could watch the tr...